Robert J Klein (pictured) has joined CIFC Corp as Senior Portfolio Manager and Managing Director, Structured Products, and will lead the firm’s structured products portfolios.
In his new role, Klein reports to Co-Presidents Oliver Wriedt and Steve Vaccaro and will also join the firm’s Operating Committee.
“Robert brings a wealth of experience to CIFC and further strengthens our structured products platform,” says Steve Vaccaro, Chief Investment Officer of CIFC. “We have worked closely with him for many years and are very pleased to have him on our team.”
Klein joins from Prospect Capital Management, where he was the lead portfolio manager for the firm’s CLO investments.
“I am thrilled to be joining the CIFC platform,” says Klein. “CIFC was one of the first collateral managers that we invested with as I started the CLO business at Prospect, so I have known Oliver, Steve and their team for many years now. I look forward to leading the fundraising and investing efforts for CIFC’s structured products portfolios. Today there exists a tremendous market opportunity where relative value trades are available in significant size and diversity as many historical buyers of various parts of the CLO value chain have left the market. This leaves prices weakened, and those with capital to invest with a unique window of opportunity to achieve outsized yields and terrific upside.”
Prior to founding the CLO business at Prospect, Klein worked at American Capital, where he was a Managing Director and led the New York private equity and financial sponsor lending teams, leading numerous debt and equity investments. Prior to that he worked at American Securities and American Industrial Partners, both active middle-market private equity firms. Klein began his career in the Mergers and Acquisitions groups of First Boston and Morgan Stanley.